AceShowbiz -

Shane Black is entrusted to relaunch the '80s classic "Predator" for 20th Century Fox. The "Iron Man 3" director is assigned to write the treatment and is attached to direct the reboot for a possible franchise.

According to THR, Black will hand over the scripting duty to Fred Dekker whom he wrote "Monster Squad" with. Black, who is known as the screenwriter of "Lethal Weapon", will oversee the writing. Original film producer John Davis is back to produce the reboot. Fox exec Matt Reilly is overseeing the reboot along with Davis Entertainment's Ira Napoliello.

An interesting note, Black had a small role in the 1987 sci-fi movie which was directed by John McTiernan. At that time, he was already a hot commodity for writing "Lethal Weapon" and "Monster Squad" scripts. He was asked to polish the script for "Predator" which was already in production at that time. Black turned down the studio's request several times but said yes when he was offered the small acting role.

Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, "Predator" follows a team of commandos, on a mission in a Central American jungle, who find themselves hunted by an extra-terrestrial warrior. Fox kept the franchise alive by having a sequel, "Predator 2" in 1990, and a new franchise, "Alien vs. Predator" in 2004 and "Aliens vs. Predator - Requiem" in 2007.